Robert Phillips (actor)

Phillips was born in Chicago, Illinois.[2] He was a self-defense instructor while serving in the United States Marine Corps, during World War II[3] and later played football for the Chicago Bears and the Washington Redskins.[2] Phillips was also a police officer in the Los Angeles Police Department and Illinois State Police.[3] He was a personal bodyguard for the 31st Governor of Illinois, Adlai Stevenson II.[3][4][5] Phillips began his film and television career in the 1950s,[2] in which a film producer told him to become an actor.[3]

Phillips attended an acting school.[3] He retired from being a police officer in 1963.[3] In his film and television career, Phillips was preferred as a "tough guy",[4] for which he was frequently hired by studios to appear in Lee Marvin's films in Hollywood, California, including The Killers (1964) and Cat Ballou (1965).[5] He also appeared in two films with actor Richard Jaeckel: The Gun Runners (1958) and The Dirty Dozen (1967).[5] His other film roles included appearances in Dimension 5 (1966), Hour of the Gun (1967), Mackenna's Gold (1969), Slaughter (1972), The Slams (1973), I Escaped from Devil's Island (1973), The Dion Brothers (1974), Capone (1975, as Bugs Moran), Mitchell (1975), Mean Johnny Barrows (1975), The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) and Walking Tall: Final Chapter (1977). Phillips also guest-starred in numerous television programs including Star Trek: The Original Series (in the episode "The Cage"), Gunsmoke, The Rockford Files, Bonanza, The Dukes of Hazzard, The Wild Wild West, Rawhide, Mission: Impossible, The High Chaparral, Mannix, The Fall Guy and Planet of the Apes.[2] His last credit was for the western television series Bordertown.[2]

Phillips died November 5, 2018, at the age of 93.[1][2]

• Robert Phillips at IMDb
• Robert Phillips at the TCM Movie Database
• Robert Phillips at AllMovie
• Rotten Tomatoes profile